Soft Cells and C-Sections

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The American Society of Gene Therapy is renaming itself: “American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy” (membership has yet to finalize the name change.”  The European Society of Gene Therapy has already done so: “European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.”


Why is gene transfer going cellular? The publicly stated reasons are two fold. First is a recognition that gene transfer has always involved “cell transfer.” For instance, ADA-SCID and X-SCID protocols– for that matter, all ex vivo protocols– involve modifying cells outside the body, and returning them to the volunteer.

A second reason is to have a more “inclusive” society, and an “expanded membership base.” I suspect this partly reflects a concern that cell-types might affiliate with groups like ISCT (International Society of Cell Therapy), which has a “gene therapy” committee, or perhaps also ISSCR (International Society of Stem Cell Research).

Of course, this raises the question of what ASGCT means by “CT.” Does the society intend “American Society of Gene AND Cell Therapy,” or is it “OR Cell Therapy (which would include protocols that do not involve genetic modification). I can’t help but wonder what the realignment will mean for gene transfer. Since its founding, “gene transfer” has represented a kind of “invisible college” – an international network of collaborations and co-citations with a common set of concerns. Does renaming represent the demise of the gene transfer invisible college, as “genes” are absorbed under the more powerful social category of “cells?”  Or does it represent a promising extension of the network? Is this simply a reflection that in the first decade of the 21st century, “cells” are, in terms of scientific capital, what “genes” were to the 1990s? (photo credit: I like 2008)

BibTeX

@Manual{stream2008-117,
    title = {Soft Cells and C-Sections},
    journal = {STREAM research},
    author = {Jonathan Kimmelman},
    address = {Montreal, Canada},
    date = 2008,
    month = dec,
    day = 10,
    url = {http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/12/10/soft-cells-and-c-sections/}
}

MLA

Jonathan Kimmelman. "Soft Cells and C-Sections" Web blog post. STREAM research. 10 Dec 2008. Web. 29 Mar 2024. <http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/12/10/soft-cells-and-c-sections/>

APA

Jonathan Kimmelman. (2008, Dec 10). Soft Cells and C-Sections [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/12/10/soft-cells-and-c-sections/


In Brugge: The Cure

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One of the most striking themes at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy was the extent to which continental European researchers conceptualize first-in-human gene transfer experiments as therapeutic interventions rather than research protocols.


Perhaps the most extreme and explicit expression of this was view was presented by Bonn internest Thomas Heinemann (he also studied philosophy and serves on several ethics committees in Germany). Heinemann advanced the notion of the “controlled individual therapeutic attempt,” for which the primary objective is therapeutic gain; the scientific dimensions of such studies (e.g. collecting safety data) are necessarily secondary. As he put it, research is only justified “ex post facto.”


I found this argument intriguing for several reasons. First, Heinemann justified this claim largely on grounds of autonomy and instrumentalization of desperately ill patients. In contrast, North American bioethicists typically use autonomy and instrumentalization to argue the opposite: that research is primarily intended to serve the ends of others, hence the paramount importance of obtaining consent from volunteers and their guardians, hence the need to be extremely cautious going into a desperately ill population, where autonomy might be compromised.

Second, I was impressed by the speaker’s conviction that first-in-human trials have therapeutic warrant. After almost twenty years of painstaking and at times discouraging research, we seem to have learned two things:  first, that first-in-human trials rarely go as expected, and second, that such studies often yield important insights about new interventions. I might have expected a more cautious and seasoned view about the therapeutic merits of first-in-human attempts: does it really enhance the autonomy of volunteers to offer so little by means of therapy, but to foreseeably get so much in terms of social good? (photo credit: virtualais //www.77click.it, Brugge, 2008)

BibTeX

@Manual{stream2008-122,
    title = {In Brugge: The Cure},
    journal = {STREAM research},
    author = {Jonathan Kimmelman},
    address = {Montreal, Canada},
    date = 2008,
    month = nov,
    day = 24,
    url = {http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/11/24/in-brugge-the-cure/}
}

MLA

Jonathan Kimmelman. "In Brugge: The Cure" Web blog post. STREAM research. 24 Nov 2008. Web. 29 Mar 2024. <http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/11/24/in-brugge-the-cure/>

APA

Jonathan Kimmelman. (2008, Nov 24). In Brugge: The Cure [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.translationalethics.com/2008/11/24/in-brugge-the-cure/


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